Magnetic video recorders are commonly used as accessories for television receivers to record broadcast television programs for later replay over the receiver or to record the output of a TV camera so the users may produce their own programs.
Frequently it is desirable to make recordings of broadcast or cablecast video programs which originate at times when the operator is not available to control the recorder and many commercially available video recorders are equipped with programming devices that enable the video recorder at a predetermined future time. Some of these video recorders include built-in tuners and a program can be established that specifies the time at which a recording is to start and stop as well as the channel to be recorded. U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,120 discloses a video recorder with this capability.
The programming of these devices is usually accomplished through use by the operator of a series of pushbuttons and multiple selector switches with the aid of a numerical display incorporated in the video recorder. In systems in which a plurality of recording instructions relating to a number of programs on different channels at different times can be recorded, the programming sequence is complex and difficult to remember and achieve. The process is susceptible to error and it is difficult or impossible to determine the sequence of programming commands that have already been recorded. Moreover, the control panels of these programmable recorders are complicated, including a number of separate input devices and displays and are accordingly expensive to manufacture and susceptible to failure in use.